Dog Soldier
Review
Dog Soldier is the fourth book in the War Horses series. In it, Warren concludes the Cinto DaSelva campaign and further develops the setting’s backstory.
Although roughly the same length as the previous books in the series, Dog Soldier feels much shorter or, at least, quicker to get through. The book is divided into three main sections:
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The first part takes place on Cinto DaSelva, where the rebellion and Chevaliers make an ill-advised attack at the command of the union-leader Helene DeChile. The advance stretches their supply lines and ends disastrously, as the mercenaries had warned.
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The second part takes place on a Paladin Devils ship, where the Chevaliers plot with their employer to remove the power-hungry and crazed Helene from command.
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The third part takes place back on Cinto DaSelva, as the Chevaliers put the assassination plot into motion. They assault the capital using wormholes to bypass the front line and end up in a knock-down-drag-out fight with the increasingly paranoid Helene and the last of her loyalists.
The transition between these three parts is not as clean as in the previous book, Serpent Valley, but still better than Ymir.
The mech battles are well written, with some unique twists, and feel like they have high stakes. The author has done a good job of scaling up the mimic threat, making it pivotal to both taking the capital and covering up Helene’s assassination.
The book sets up several possible future stories: Vandel’s courtship of Duri continues; Duri’s company has started to prototype true power-armor; the Romans are introduced as a super-advanced but disappeared faction; and the Paladin Devils from Chevalier are fleshed-out, with old grudges renewed.
With the Cinto DaSelva plot-line wrapped up, I’m excited to see where the next book, Grand Melee, will take us.